Sisters Julia and Marina Moneta Facini travelled from São Paulo, Brazil, to attend National Youth Conference. They were two of six international participants who were able to get visas to attend the conference through the Church of the Brethren Global Mission and Service.
Top 10 first impressions of National Youth Conference.
A glimpse of the opening day of National Youth Conference (NYC) 2018, the every-four-years conference for Church of the Brethren youth.
In the morning, there is the calm before the storm. Everyone is hard at work–staff, youth workers, volunteers–but there are only a few precious hours before the youth arrive. Their buses are being loaded somewhere two, three, five hours away. Or perhaps they have been on buses for one, two, or more days. Some are walking through airport security now, some are preparing for their first flights. Experienced travelers are mixed together with the homesick, who may be leaving home for the first time.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
1) Task of seeking a ‘compelling vision’ is begun with conversation among Conference-goers
2) Delegates affirm the ecumenical and interfaith work of the church
3) ‘Creation Care: Faith into Action’ recommendations are adopted
4) Conference adopts new vision for a global Church of the Brethren
5) ‘Vitality and Viability’ report focuses on providing resources for renewed vitality
6) Changes to the Church of the Brethren bylaws are approved, among other business
7) Paul Mundey to serve as moderator-elect of Annual Conference, among other elections and appointments
8) Standing Committee discusses Michigan District situation
9) Annual Conference welcomes new projects, fellowships, and congregations
10) ‘Witness to the Host City’ aids women in rehabilitation treatment, and their children
11) Annual Conference by the numbers, and more from Cincinnati
NEWS
12) Vietnam initiative focuses on babies with Retinopathy of Prematurity
13) Brethren bits
In this issue: Remembrance, personnel notes, job openings, Camp Swatara’s 75th anniversary, Pinecrest Community’s 125th anniversary, Indian Creek’s new Peace Pole, World Week of Peace in Palestine and Israel, “Playback Social Entrepreneurs®,” Brethren author new book “September Mourn: The Dunker church of Antietam Battlefield,” and more news by, for, and about Brethren.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dec. 10, 2015: Global Mission and Service worker Grace Mishler receives an urgent email from the American Eye Center medical director: “We need your help to find donors…. Within 10 days Baby Hoa will go blind with Retinopathy of Prematurity. Baby needs immediate surgery.”
Where to find more online coverage on the 2018 Annual Conference, Conference “by the numbers,” “The Not-so-big Church” video report, Bethany’s new logo, Revelation 7:9 Award, Open Roof congregations, international guests, 5K top finishers, clergywomen’s retreat, more.
A brief overview of the final day of the 2018 Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren.
In downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, there is a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad and slavery in the United States. As soon as I began viewing the first part of the exhibit, I was overcome with emotion, seeing the portrayals of men bound in chains staring down the barrel of a gun. My eyes filled with tears.
